Kimmity

Hello! Thank you so much for offering your much needed insight! I recently interviewed at my local prison and initially received a general rejection letter through my CDCR account. Then 2 weeks later, I got a call for a job offer! ^-^ Unfortunately, I have no idea what kind of schedule I will be on. I know that it will be 5, 8 hour days but not sure if it is a set schedule or what hours it will be. I have been having a hard time trying to find these answers. I currently work at my local hospital part time 2 days a week, but since I got hired there only 4 months ago, I feel bad giving my notice. Everyone there is very nice and I will definitely miss my coworkers and the hospital experience. However, I am really excited about working in corrections and do not want to miss this opportunity! In reality, I would prefer to work at both places even though it will be working 7 days a week. How difficult will it be to work at both places with mandation? I am also not sure if CDCR is hourly pay or salary pay, they are estimating around 8,100/month grossly. I am not sure if the pay is worth working 20 days a month versus the 8 days I am currently working a month. My gross pay currently is around 4,100/month. The difference seems pretty big, but after taxes...there is only around a 1500 dollar difference between working the 8 days versus the 20 days! I guess my questions are: Is there a contract to work with CDCR for a set amount of years? What are the benefits? What schedules are there usually? Do you still have to work the next day if you are mandated the day before? How hard will it be to work at both places? What is the work like in corrections versus hospital? Fast pace? Lots of medication passes? Is it hard to have vacation time approved? Thanks so much for your help and sorry for the long passage!

Hi Kmc12! I just saw your update after I had posted my comment to your original post. I'm really sorry to hear that your anxiety and feelings towards nursing has worsened. Do you have other new grad friends that you can vent too? Sometimes a good long talk with someone who knows what I'm going through helps to give me some hope. If you truly think that your unit is not where you're supposed to be, I would suggest in finding another unit or employer to work for. I recently had a coworker quit and change floors. She is much happier where she is now. Even if you don't stick it out a year, 6 months would be good too. I didn't really get the flow of my unit around 3 months after I got out of orientation and though I am still anxious, it has gotten a lot better. This career is draining mentally and physically, but I truly hope that you get to experience the positives in nursing too!

Hi OP! It's crazy how many of us new grads are experiencing what you are right now. I graduated in May 2017 just like you and didn't start working until October 2017. I came off of orientation in December. I work nights on a busy Med-Surg floor handling about 5-8 patients, we rarely get 8 though. The first 3 months I felt really anxious before going to work. I would cry while driving to work and sometimes would have to have a quick breakdown in the bathroom before I faced the chaos again. I would lose sleep, feel nauseated, dread going to work, and feel really overwhelmed. During this, I would read the other member's post and found that a lot of new RN's went through similar situations. I have to admit, it did get a lot better for me but I'm starting to feel overwhelmed again. Granted our staffing is terrible with no tech and caring for 7 high acuity patients. I question if nursing was the right choice for me and I have made a few small mistakes such as not labeling tubing or making sure the consent was brought up from ER. I worry constantly if I'm going to make a huge mistake. My co-workers are great and with my recent evaluation it seems like I am on the right track, but it doesn't really help with the anxiety. Basically, what I'm trying to tell you is, is that it really does get better. We all have good days and bad days, we just need to keep trucking along! However, if the unit is not a good fit, it doesn't hurt to find your calling elsewhere whether it be on a new unit or a different employer. I learned so much in the past 6 months and I definitely have gotten better skill wise. It's really different after you're off orientation and that's when the challenge begins. I really do hope that you stick with nursing and don't let this rut discourage you! Best of luck and good wishes to you!

Hi Tokmom! I'm about to start Grand Canyon University for the online RN to BSN, when I came across your thread! I was wondering if you still had the teacher's name of who to avoid? I was also wondering if you still recommend this school overall. Thank you!